See Also: Precise(medicine)
precise(1)(dictionary)
precise(2)(dictionary)
precise(dictionary)

precise(1) (iou)



precise adjective & adverb. LME.
[French precis, -ise from Latin praecisus pa. pple of praecidere cut short, abridge, from prae- PRE- + caedere cut.]
A. adjective.
Marked by definiteness or exactness of expression; strictly defined; (of a person) definite and exact in statement. LME.
Day Lewis My own passionate sense of justiceor rather, to be precise, of injustice. Nature Most geophysical theories tend to be more precise than accurate. S. Naipaul The government, unafraid of precise commitment,..said that it would 'feed, clothe and house' all the people.
b. Of an instrument: exact, accurate. M16.
c. Of the voice, language, etc.: distinct in utterance or enunciation. M19.
Dickens The low precise tone of one who endeavours to awaken a sleeper.
Distinguished with precision from any other; identified with exactness; the particular, the identical, the exact. LME.
V. Brome The precise directon which his..career should follow. Toeckey Jones What Dave was doing at that precise moment. W. M. Clarke Its precise shape is difficult to describe.
Strict in observing rules etc.; formal, correct; punctilious, scrupulous; (of a practice) strictly observed; occas. overnice, fastidious. M16.
W. Cowper Learned without pride, exact, yet not precise. F. Marryat He..was very precise about doing his duty.
b. esp. Strict in religious observance. Formerly spec. puritanical. M16.
E. B. Pusey Men are now called 'precise', who will not connive at sin.
That is exactly what it is stated to be; perfect, complete; neither more nor less than. L16.
L. Stephen The precise adaptation of the key to every ward of the lock.
b. adverb. = PRECISELY. Long obsolete exc. Scot. LME.
preciseness noun M16.